The FCC will be opening up a "substantial amount" of radio spectrum for the use of Wi-Fi, which will improve the speed of wireless devices.

"There's been a Wi-Fi traffic jam," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, speaking before a room of several hundred people at CES. "When you see what's going on, on the floor [at CES] and how much more video travels over Wi-Fi networks, you understand. It's time to do it."

The Wi-Fi traffic jam was predictable, just as it's predictable that there will be a mobile spectrum crunch, he said. 195MHz of new spectrum will be opened up, all in the 5GHz band, which has less interference but shorter ranges than the 2.4GHz band. Opening up more spectrum has the potential to alleviate Internet-use congestion, particularly at crowded places like public Wi-Fi access points.

"It's going to help spur entire new industries," said Genachowski. "By leaning into these opportunities, we increase the chance that the US is the country where new innovation is developed, and the market is developed."

The spectrum being opened up is currently used by the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies. "We are convinced that the spectrum can be shared," said Genachowski.

The idea of opening up government spectrum was suggested in a report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology last summer.